BELGRADE, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- After having torn apart their common former homeland during the bloody wars of secession during the 1990s, the armies of the former republics of Yugoslavia -- at least most of them -- are being united again as part of an international peacekeeping unit, reported Radio Sarajevo on Thursday.

Meeting in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, military experts from the U.S.-Adriatic Charter discussed the prospect of soldiers from Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, along with Albania, forming a joint unit of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The unit's tentative name is "Balkan," which was reportedly first proposed by the U.S. military.

During previous meetings among the ministries of defense and foreign affairs of these countries, the option of sending a joint regional team of trainers and advisors for the training of the Afghan army had been approved.

Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Rear Admiral Zdenko Simicic, said the initiative is based on regional cooperation among Western Balkan member states.

"We expect the training school for Afghan military police to be in full operational use in two years," said Simicic.

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